ISIS India head among two arrested in Assam, to be handed over to NIA: Police

ISIS India head and one of his associates were arrested in Assam's Dhubri district on Wednesday after they crossed over from Bangladesh.

Updated on: Mar 20, 2024, 22:18:55 IST

By HT News Desk

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Two top-rung leaders of ISIS in India planning sabotage activities were arrested near the international border after they crossed over from Bangladesh, Assam Police said on Wednesday.

Haris Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi and his associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan.

Acting on intelligence received from sister agencies, an STF team was deployed to the Dhubri sector to intercept the suspects, who were also wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), according to the police. (Also Read: ISIS module case: NIA attaches four properties in Pune’s Kondhwa area)

On Tuesday evening, the STF team launched a manhunt in the international border area and intercepted two suspects in the early hours of Wednesday at the Dharmasala area of Dhubri after they had crossed the international border, police added.

“Both of them were apprehended and brought to STF office at Guwahati,” Assam Police Chief Public Relations Officer Pranabjyoti Goswami said in a statement.

The arrested ISIS cadres have been identified as Harish Ajmal Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi and Anurag Singh alias Rehan. Police said that Farooqi is a resident of Uttarakhand's Dehradun while Anurag Singh is a resident of Haryana's Panipat. (Also Read: Another AMU student arrested for ISIS links)

Anurag Singh got converted to Islam while his wife is a Bangladeshi national, Goswami added.

Both individuals are described as highly indoctrinated and motivated leaders/members of ISIS in India, involved in various activities including recruitment, terror funding, and planning terror acts using improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"They had furthered the cause of ISIS in India through conspiracies to carry out recruitment, terror funding and terror acts by means of IEDs at several places across India," the police official said.

According to the STF, several cases were registered against these two by National Investigation Agency (NIA), New Delhi and Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), Lucknow.

The STF Assam has announced its intention to hand over the accused to NIA for further legal proceedings.

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HT News Desk
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